Committee is ‘not operating as expected’

THE National Assembly’s Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas faced upsetting a number of Welsh MPs after telling the meeting he thought the Justice Committee should scrutinise Welsh legislation rather than the “tardy” Welsh Affairs Select Committee.

THE National Assembly’s Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas faced upsetting a number of Welsh MPs after telling the meeting he thought the Justice Committee should scrutinise Welsh legislation rather than the “tardy” Welsh Affairs Select Committee.

Currently, any legislation the Assembly wishes to see become law is examined in the House of Commons by the Welsh committee.

But after yesterday’s meeting, he said: “I think the Welsh Affairs Select Committee has not been operating in the way that it was expected to operate in the Government of Wales Act.

“It’s been investigating and seeking to gather evidence on the reasons for requests for legislative proposals coming from here, and asking all sorts of questions about what might come out of that.

“Measures are nothing to do with them. These measures are for the Assembly. Quite honestly, they’re a bit tardy in scrutinising them, in my view.”